Near-Death Experience During Emergency Ketamine Use: A Case Report.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Survivors from acute life-threatening conditions occasionally report various alterations in subjective experiences, ranging from visual perceptual changes to multi-faceted phenomena that can be categorized as near-death experiences (NDEs). We report an NDE in a 73-year-old woman with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, requiring emergency intubation and mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory failure.

Method

The patient suffered from profound hypoxia and hypercapnia with uncompensated respiratory acidosis. Prehospital anesthesia was induced with an intravenous bolus of 500 mg of ketamine administered over 60 s, corresponding to 7 mg/kg of adjusted body weight. The patient eventually recovered and was weaned from ventilator after 24 h.

SUBMITTER: Fritz P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12551671 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature